The D'Potri

To the north of the Nostian Empire is the ocean and beyond that a large unexplored continent. Between the two great continents are a series of many small Islands. The planet's equator is just north of the coast of the northern continent, making the islands warm and tropical, covered with jungle and rain forests. The islands are home to many different races and nationalities of people; some hunting and finishing with simple stone tools, others utilizing agriculture and metal working techniques. The D'Potri are but one of many groups of people who sail the tropical waters around these islands, though they are one of the more notorious. The D'Potri are a people who hale from the Island of Pota, one of the regions larger and most easterly islands. Like the other islands nearby, Pota has lush tropical jungles, though much of the island has been cleared for agriculture and for development.

Much of the economy of the D'Potri people is based on piracy, raiding, and the labor of slaves. D'Potri use large galley style ships, much like ancient Greek biremes and triremes. The D'Potri sailors travel the known and unknown waters of the world, sometimes raiding and sometimes trading with peoples that they encounter. They generally attack those who seem weak and vulnerable, those who will not be able or willing to put up a fight. With more powerful towns, villages, or ships, the D'Potri will trade - sometimes trading their ill gotten gain from piracy or raiding. There are many small villages in the region who get regular visits from the D'Potri, who will usually demand tribute in the form of slaves or other valuable goods. Those who refuse to pay tribute will often see their populations decimated and the villages burned to the ground.

The D'Potri are ruled by warlords, those D'Potri man who has the greatest number of warriors and ships under his command is the "king" of the D'Potri. Wealth is often inherited, but the loyalty of soldiers often does not pass from father to son, and thus heredity is usually less important to becoming a king than is ruthlessness or charisma. Sometimes, however, a line of D'Potri kings can manage to keep the crown within the family through judicious use of wealth and power which was inherited. Despite this somewhat chaotic system of government, civil wars only happen occasionally because weaker D'Potri forces are usually quick to back down peacefully when their inferiority is evident.

The major position of power within the D'Potri nation is called a Gajzu, which effectively means the captain of a ship. Some Gajzus own the ship which they command, while others simply command ships belonging to a wealthier warlord called a Traejza. Traejzas are the movers and shakers of D'Potri society, what other cultures might call pirate kings. The D'Potri king, called the Diatram, not only the Traejza with the largest number of ships, but also the one which controls the city of Matti - the capital of the D'Potri nation and major port of the island of Pota. The regular citizen of the D'Potri is called a Faru and slave is Jziarpi.

In D'Potri culture, the men have absolute control in the household. According to D'Potri law, a man owns his wife and his children in the same manner that he owns his slaves, and may do anything that he wishes to his wife or children (including killing them) without facing and legal repercussions or even major social stigma. At the age of 13, boy children become legal adults and the father no longer has legal authority over the child - though often this is the age where additional burdens are placed upon males where they are expected to work for their food and shelter. Female children never gain autonomy - men purchase a girl from her father or current owner and then she is effectively a wife. Wealthy D'Potri men have many slave women (there is no legal or cultural distinction between wife and female slave) who they have sex and children with, while poorer men may not be able to afford even one.

Fathers often do not allow their sons to become free men, instead, they have their sons branded as slaves - making them slaves for the rest of their lives. This brand, a triangle upon the forehead, marks all male slaves. For females this brand is not necessary, though many free men brand their male and female slaves with a mark of ownership - much like cows are branded. If a father allows his son to become a free man, a Faru, then on that son's 13th birthday, the father gives the son his inheritance (what ever the father deems appropriate) and sends him out into the world. When a man dies, his free sons must equally split up their father's estate. This method of inheritance laws make it difficult for a single family to maintain its wealth and power unless most of the sons are turned into slaves.

Male slaves of the D'Potri hardly ever have children and seldom have sex for that matter. Female slaves, on the other hand, usually bare the children of their masters. There is no real distinction between a child born to a foreign captured slave girl or to the daughter of a wealthy D'Potri, though often there will be some degree of favoritism between children - especially since many will not become free men. Because of this, the D'Potri people have a great amount of diversity within their gene pool, since slaves from all over the known world bare the children of their masters and those children all have the potential to become free if they are male. Nostians find the D'Potri's lack of racial or hereditary awareness disturbing to say the least.

Its not uncommon for rich and powerful D'Potri to have hundreds of "wives" and for the D'Potri king to have thousands. The typical free man will not have more than two or three. Of course, since women are nothing more than chattel to the D'Potri, there is no such crime as rape. If a free man sleeps with another free man's woman (with or without her consent) then she is thought to be defiled and loses much of her worth. The man must then pay her owner the full market price of the woman. If she slept with the man of her own free will, then it is customary for her to be killed and if he forced himself on her then her life is usually spared - but in either case, its the choice of her husband/master. If a male slave has sex with any woman, he forfeits his life unless both his master and the master of the woman agree to spare him. Sometimes eunuch slaves are used for the purposes of protecting the harem, while other wealthy D'Potri men use free men soldiers as harem guards. Free men who betray their bosses with their bosses' wives tend to meet with grisly fates.

For free men who cannot afford to buy a wife, prostitution or rape is the only ways to satisfy their sexual urges. Rape is a common part of any D'Potri raid upon a village and is seen as perfectly acceptable as long as nobody damages any potentially valuable slaves. Prostitution is a thriving business among the D'Potri as well, since many D'Potri men spend much of their lives at sea where they cannot bring a wife along, so other D'Potri who own lots of slave girls will open brothels in port towns for the sailors who are on leave. Homosexuality is somewhat accepted among the D'Potri; men who play a less dominant role in homosexual intercourse are looked down upon as being unmanly, though technically it is not illegal or prohibited. What is more common, however, is for slave owning free men to have sex with their male slaves. Aboard many ships they will keep a slave or two, a women or younger boys, to sexually service the D'Potri sailors during long sea voyages. Lesbianism is completely unknown to the D'Potri.

Because the D'Potri are a mixture of so many different racial groups, its hard to make too many general descriptions about their appearance. In some ways the D'Potri bare a resemblance to the people of Brazil - combining features of Nostians, Gabebi, Etristi, Athavi, ancient D'Potri, and dozens of other less numerous ethnic groups from around the known world. Their hair is virtually always dark as are their eyes, though some exceptions exist. Their skin also tends to be dark, but varies from individual to individual. D'Potri hair varies in texture if not color, ranging from tight kinky curls to completely straight to everything in between. Their eyes usually have a slightly asian appearance while their noses tend to be broad and their lips are thick. Their facial hair tends to be sparse, usually only growing in a goatee pattern. Though no generalization about their appearance always holds. They vary in build and body type based more on economic status and lifestyle than genes. The men are on average about 5'6" tall and the women about 5'2" tall.

Male D'Potri tend to wear their hair extremely long in braids or dreadlocks depending on the texture of their hair. In the case when beards are grown long enough, they are often braided as well. Its fairly common for beads or ribbons to be braided into their hair, and in the case of wealthy D'Potri, this could include jewelry as well. The more well treated females tend to wear their hair in a similar manner as free men, including beads. Slave men and less favored women usually have their hair sheared short for greater practicality as well as a sign of lower status and less beauty. Because of the high heat and humidity of the region they sail in, the D'Potri wear relatively scant clothing. Slaves of both sexes usually go completely nude, though more favored women may often wear silk sashes or other clothing items that are considered beautiful or showy. D'Potri free men usually wear a linen wrap or kilt type of item that covers their genitalia and legs down to the knee and no shirt. Wealthier men wear additional clothing made out of fine materials which are often brightly colored, more to show their wealth than for any other reason. While aboard ship, free men usually wear the same type of clothing that they do on land, though some of the more elite fighting men will wear hardened leather breastplates and helmets. The wealthier men aboard a ship may wear metal armor as well, though most are reluctant to do so because of fear of drowning. Every ship has a set of colors that the pirates aboard wear to show that they are the ship's crew, Traejzas also usually have certain colors that they wear and that men under them wear to show their loyalty. Almost all D'Potri clothing is brightly colored.

When in battle, the D'Potri use a variety of different weapons. The primary military force of the D'Potri are the pirates and raiders or are usually lightly armed and armored for quickness, mobility, and the ability to swim if they need to. They usually don't wear armor thicker than a soft leather vest or perhaps a boiled leather breastplate and cap. They usually use small hacking swords that resemble a falchion, having a fairly thick blade and sharp only on one side. Though occasionally they carry gladius style swords as well, slightly lighter blades which are double edged. They carry small round shields as well, made of wood covered with hide. A ships fighting force also has a number of archers. These archers use short bows and carry a sword as a backup weapon. When attacking an enemy ship, they usually wrap oil soaked linen rages to their arrows and attempt to light the enemy's sails on fire. D'Potri ships often have a number of war machines designed to hurl containers of flaming oil at their enemies. On board every ship are special fighting forces called the Hattis. A Hatti is the equivalent of a marine, they keep the rank and file sailors in line and also form the spearhead during a raid or sea attack. They wear heavier armor, a iron scale hauberk and iron helm the covers the top of the head, and carry a long spear or pole arm of some kind instead of a sword and shield.

The land forces of the D'Potri are a little bit different. Soldiers who fight exclusively on land - such as those who protect D'Potri ports or who are gathered together for a major land raid - can get away with heavier armor and weapons. These land armies are all equipped with boiled leather breastplates and caps. Furthermore, they tend to use large round shields that allow them to form an effective shield wall. Also, they will often carry heavier weapons in case they have to fight better armored land forces; this usually means an axe or mace. Like aboard a ship, archers in land armies wear very little if any armor or even clothing. The D'Potri use very few horses in combat, and usually the men on horses are riding because they want a quick escape in the event the battle goes badly for them. These few D'Potri cavalrymen usually carry javelins or short bows they use to harass enemy light infantry more than to actually significantly effect the tide of battle. Hattis are also used in land battles, especially to take out heavily armored foes.

Whether on land or sea, wealthy D'Potri such as Gajzus or Traejzas will usually wear scale armor hauberks and iron helms, much like those of the Hattis. Unlike Hattis, rich men usually also carry medium or large round shields to protect themselves with and swords. On land, they usually take the field on horse back, often to act as leader and to provide moral more than to actually fight. In times of dire need, sometimes slaves are given weapons and forced to fight for their masters. They are usually sent into battle naked either with short spears and wicker shields or two handed clubs. These slave armies are placed in front of normal D'Potri soldiers so that the slaves will be killed if attempt to free or do not press forward fast enough. Sometimes the slave soldiers turn out to turn the tide of battle for the D'Potri, though its not unknown for them to turn upon their masters. This being the case, many D'Potri leaders consider it too risky to allow slaves to fight upon the battlefield.

D'Potri Religion

The D'Potri believe that there are millions of minor gods controlling each and event and object in the world. Each stone has its own god, as does each animal, ship, city, tree and mountain. They believe that each of these gods is a fully sentient and aware being and can be spoken to and reasoned with by people. Even people are thought to have their own personal gods, or more like guardian angels, or help to guide a person through life and protect them from harm. These gods, of course, don't have the powers that are often attributed to deities in other religions aside from a few very powerful gods that tend to receive special attention from the D'Potri.

The D'Potri do not have priests or religious leaders per se, generally each and every D'Potri man or woman offers prayers to the gods that are most important to him or her at any given time and acts in a manner which is most pleasing to the gods. There are a few individuals who make a point of their devotion to the gods, at least certain ones, and sometimes the D'Potri will seek such a person if they want some special favor from the gods.

The D'Potri believe that in order to please the gods, and thus have good fortune, that they must find out what sort of actions will please the gods. There are many traditions, taboos, and superstitions that the majority of the D'Potri follow which are believed to be pleasing to the most powerful and important gods. In the likely event that a D'Potri wishes to please a god whose desires are unknown, the D'Potri must use a skill known as Marsal - divining the will of the gods. There are many different ways to do this, but it usually involves some sort of random chance method - such as rolling dice, casting bones, smearing blood on the ground, etc. The profession of Marsali is an expert in using such methods of divination and they are said to be able to determine the gods' will from relatively subtle or esoteric observations. Anyone, at least in theory, can learn of the will of the gods, so it is fairly common for D'Potri to pay special attention to seemingly random events in an attempt to spot signs or omens.

Most often a D'Potri will focus on pleasing only a few gods at a time. Its always a good idea to keep one's own personal god happy - failure to do so is the cause of sickness and disease. When a D'Potri's personal god is happy, that man or woman will have good health and a strong mind and body. The gods of a person's city, ship, horse, house, valuable items, etc. all need respect of course. Sometimes D'Potri will even say prayers to the gods of other people, this is usually to gain the love and/or friendship of the person which that god governs or to heal that person from illness, but sometimes it can be possible to convince a person's god to make that person sick or even to kill them. Of course, it goes without saying that the god of the sea - named Raynu - is supreme among the gods and deserves respect from all people of the world.

The D'Potri believe that when they die, their minds become one with their personal god - making the deceased D'Potri a form of god. It is thought that these ancestor gods watch over their descendants and try to protect them - that is, of course, if the ancestors are shown the proper respect. Because of this, many D'Potri keep a list of names of ancestors who they will venerate in the hopes that the ancestors will bring them good luck. Is is believed that these gods usually only have the power to help and not to harm, meaning that soldiers need not fear their gods of their slain enemies.